THE 19th SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD WINNERS

THE 19th SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARD WINNERS

As an actor, I love watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I am not a member of SAG/AFTRA so I am not an actual voter, but I have some friends that are members so it was fun hearing them talk about the movies they have gotten in the mail to watch. Actors love getting these awards as they sometimes mean the most to them as they are being awarded by their fellow actors and peers. Here is a list of the winners from the 19th SAG Awards:

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
The Cast of Argo

Ben Affleck 
Alan Arkin 
Kerry Bishé 
Kyle Chandler 
Rory Cochrane 
Bryan Cranston 
Christopher Denham 
Tate Donovan 
Clea DuVall 
Victor Garber 
John Goodman 
Scoot McNairy 
Chris Messina 

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
 Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

OUTSTANDING ACTION PERFORMANCE BY A STUNT ENSEMBLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Skyfall

Movie Trailer: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES

THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
Director: Derek Cianfrance
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Rose Byrne, Ray Liotta, Dane DeHaan, Eva Mendes

If you saw Blue Valentine in 2010, you know the work of director Derek Cianfrance. He reunites with Ryan Gosling to bring you another intense character study. Gosling plays Luke Glanton, a motorcycle stunt rider that turns to bank robbery in effort to provide for his son and ex-girlfriend Romina (Mendes), who is the mother of his child. Luke's actions come to the attention of rookie cop Avery (Cooper) and the even more corrupt Detective Deluca (Liotta).

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012 and received rave reviews. Cooper is shining right now with Silver Linings Playbook, so I predict another stellar performance to keep his momentum going. Gosling can currently be seen in Gangster Squad and was recently the People Magazine cover man. Blue Valentine really got to me, so I am highly looking forward to another emotional punch to the gut with The Place Beyond the Pines.

Release Date: March 29, 2013.

Movie Review: ZERO DARK THIRTY

ZERO DARK THIRTY
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Chris Pratt, Joel Edgerton

"When you lie to me, I hurt you."

I always applaud movies that are based on actual historical events that still manage to keep you completely engrossed and on the edge of your seat. Kathryn Bigelow's latest film after winning the Oscar for The Hurt Locker is just that kind of movie. Fellow Oscar winner Mark Boal's screenplay takes off early on as the torture scenes paint the picture for the kind of story about to be told. These scenes open the movie as Dan (Clarke) is a seasoned interrogator who has no qualms about his line of duty. CIA agent Maya (Chastain) follows him to black sites as he interrogates a man going by Ammar who has potential connections to Saudi terrorists. Dan uses very physical torture methods like water boarding to get information out of him and other couriers regarding the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.

The film is told in linear form spanning the years from September 11, 2001 to May 2, 2011. The whole story centers on Maya's firm affirmation that bin Laden is hiding in plain sight. Her determination about the location leads to the eventual raid of his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Many did not want to believe he would be hiding in such an open area. It was easier to believe he was hidden deep in a desolate location. Many of the real life people the film is based on are still in hiding so we do not know much about their backgrounds or personal lives. The personal sides of these characters are very limited in this story. The only information we know about Maya and the rest of the CIA agents or the Navy SEALs is how they are in this moment of hunting for bin Laden. There is no exposition or sides stories that are told outside of the hunt.

The film is getting mixed reactions regarding the use of the torture scenes. People have questions on if it glorifies them or gives an opinion on if they are necessary or not. These scenes are raw and gruesome to watch. Isn't that the point though? I do not want some tamed down, syrupy, or simplistic approach to actual historical events. The final raid on the compound is intense and nerve-wracking. Despite knowing the ending, the rest of the audience and I watched without blinking or making a sound as if it was all coming at us for the first time. The action and suspense is filmed so intricately as if you are right there in the compound compared to watching it as an observer from the outside looking in.

Kathryn Bigelow has proven yet again she is a master filmmaker who is unafraid to tackle such heavy-hitting material. There was bound to be controversy regarding a film about the hunt for bin Laden. Her work with screenwriter Mark Boal is uncompromising and unapologetic. She casts an exceptional acting ensemble that asks them to go to very dark places. Jessica Chastain continues her streak of creating a diverse palette of characters so different from the last. She was Oscar nominated for her work in The Help last year and these two characters could not be further apart. Zero Dark Thirty is not an easy film to watch, but it is an important film that deserves attention.

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)

THE 70th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNERS

THE 70th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARD WINNERS

It was a big night in Hollywood as the 2013 Golden Globes were handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. While it usually is a precursor to the Oscars, there is no overlap in members of the Academy and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Ben Affleck won for Best Director and he was completely left off the Oscar nomination list.

Here are the winners of the Motion Picture portion of the evening:

Best Motion Picture-Drama
ARGO

Best Motion Picture-Musical/Comedy
LES MISERABLES

Best Director
BEN AFFLECK

Best Actor-Drama
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, Lincoln

Best Actress-Drama
JESSICA CHASTAIN, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor-Musical/Comedy
HUGH JACKMAN, Les Miserables

Best Actress-Musical/Comedy
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actor
ANNE HATHAWAY, Les Miserables

Best Screenplay
QUENTIN TARANTINO, Django Unchained

Best Animated Feature
BRAVE

Best Foreign Film
AMOUR, Austria

Best Original Score
MYCHAEL DANNA, Life of Pi

Best Original Song
"Skyfall" by Adele and Paul Epworth, Skyfall

Do you agree with the choice of winners? Any surprises for you?

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actors: Full Uncensored Interview

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actors: Full Uncensored Interview

This is the third in a series of videos I am posting from The Hollywood Reporter. This time they interview six dynamic and diverse actors who discuss their current roles, their history in Hollywood, dream roles, their personal life, and most of all, their love of acting.





The hour long sit down discussion includes:
Alan Arkin--Argo
Richard Gere--Arbitrage
Matt Damon--Promised Land
John Hawkes--The Sessions
Jamie Foxx--Django Unchained
Denzel Washington--Flight

You can find the other two by clicking the links below!

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Actresses: Full Uncensored Interview

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER--The Directors: Full Uncensored Interview

Here are the actors:

Movie Review: PROMISED LAND

PROMISED LAND
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Matt Damon, John Krasinski, Frances McDormand, Rosemarie DeWitt, Hal Holbrook

I will be honest. I had never heard of the term "fracking" until Promised Land came around. I am assuming that many people do not know what that term is. Fracking is the slang term for hydraulic fracturing which is the core debate in the latest Gus Van Sant/Matt Damon reunion. Steve Butler (Damon) and Sue Thomason (McDormand) work for Global, a natural gas company that is interested in buying farm land in order to drill for gas. Steve and Sue visit a small rural town in hopes to buy land from residents and offer them thousands of dollars in return depending on the acreage of each property. These are not rich people nor are the farms surviving, so this money could help them out in the tough economy. So they say. They go clothes shopping and drink at the local tavern in order to fit in and appear relatable to the local residents.

Their goal was to get enough signatures and be gone within a couple of days. That idea quickly changes the moment opposition starts to happen. During an initial town hall meeting at the run down high school gymnasium, retired high school teacher Frank Yates (Holbrook) questions the plan for drilling by bringing up concerns and facts from previous drilling attempts in other locations. It is easy to pass him off as the old man curmudgeon, but he is one of the smartest and well educated men in town. Another opposing viewpoint comes from Dustin Noble (Krasinski). He arrives in town at the same time as Steve and Sue and claims he is from an environmental agency. He comes ready to fight with the story of how his family farm was ruined by drilling. He comes with props, banners, and signs displaying the pictures of the dead cows. The town's residents become divided on where to stand. Is it immoral and unethical due to the potential results of the drilling or does the paycheck out weigh that?

Damon and Krasinski wrote the screenplay together as well as starring as the two opposing viewpoints. Damon was supposed to direct it, but dropped out and got his former Good Will Hunting director Gus Van Sant to take over. Do not go into this movie thinking it is going to be this big preachy movie with a binder full of facts and scientific jargon thrown at you. There is no big courtroom scene nor is it based on the story of a specific town. The story is focused more on the character study of the two leads as well as the residents. While I appreciate that the movie is more about the moral struggles of the characters over a legal battle, I still wanted a bit more specificity and discussion about what exactly fracking is and the impacts on the environment. The discussions are pretty elementary and tend to get glossed over. Speaking of elementary, one of the longest discussions happens to be Krasinski explaining it to a bunch of grade school children. I have been looking forward to Matt Damon getting back to writing and Krasinski is a good writing partner for him now than Ben Affleck is off directing.

The script is full of the funny and witty banter that both of the leads are good at playing at. McDormand is always sharp and on point in every performance. You know her character is simply doing her job. Whether or not Sue fully agrees with it, it is her job and she will do what she has to do. Damon’s character knows it is just his job but always seems to be on the verge of flipping sides. Hal Holbrook has had quite a run of playing small, but important, characters recently in Into the Wild, Water for Elephants, and Lincoln. He has another minor role here that I wish would have been fleshed out more. He is so fantastic that I always want to see more of him in every movie. The costume design and cinematography successfully demonstrate the kind of town these residents live in. If you have been to ever been to a small rural town, you know these types of people. This is nowhere near that caliber of work Van Sant or Damon has done before, but it certainly is nowhere near their worst. It did not have the emotional punch that I expected it to give me. Despite that, the relatable characters and struggles keep the story interesting.

RATING: *** 1/2 (3.5 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: THE SESSIONS

THE SESSIONS
Director: Ben Lewin
Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy, Moon Bloodgood, W. Earl Brown

What is the difference between a sex surrogate and a prostitute? According to Cheryl Cohen-Greene (Hunt), prostitutes want your return business. Mark O'Brien (Hawkes) spends ninety percent of his day living in an iron lung. The rest of the day is spent being carried around on a gurney by his attendant, Vera (Bloodgood). Whether it is clothes shopping, going to church, or visiting other friends, Vera is by his side bringing him where ever he needs to go. Mark suffers from polio and his body has become quite weak. He suffers great pain when he needs to move his arms and legs if it is not done with the utmost care.

Despite being only 38 years old, he feels his time on Earth is limited and coming to an end sooner than later. He desperately feels the need to lose his virginity and to feel what sex is like before he dies. He consults his priest Father Brendan (Macy) on the morality behind this. Would God be okay with sex outside of marriage in this circumstance? Mark hires sex surrogate Cheryl to help him lose his virginity. The first couple of sessions are a bit awkward as Mark struggles with his physical limitations. Mark is not a shy man and continues to fill in Fr. Brendan with the updates from each of his sessions no matter how many other people are sitting in the pews at church or how intimate the discussion gets.

The Sessions could easily have been a heavy and depressing movie mirroring something you would find on Lifetime. It is the exact opposite of that. Writer and director Ben Lewin wrote this screenplay after reading Mark O'Brien's article "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate". The real Mark O'Brien must have had one wicked sense of humor. I was pleasantly surprised at how funny and warmhearted the movie felt. Lewin is a polio survivor himself which gives the movie an additional feeling of honesty and beauty. While the movie may have more sex scenes than you are used to seeing, it never comes across as graphic or shocking. Watching two completely opposite people grow and learn from each other leaves a bigger impact on each scene than the physical act that initiated the connection.

You may not recognize John Hawkes as he does a remarkable job transforming his body and speech to portray the polio-stricken Mark O'Brien. If you have seen Winter's Bone, Lincoln, or HBO's "Deadwood" you have seen the work of John Hawkes before. He is the type of character actor that when he pops up, you know his face but somehow can never remember his name. He always gives a stunning performance no matter how big or small his character is. He balances the seriousness of the situation with enough humor without ever having to beg for pity. I love when an actor completely surprises me. I thought I knew going in what kind of performance Helen Hunt was going to give. She topped my expectations by giving one of the best performances of her career. She is completely vulnerable and lets the audience in on every thought and emotion Cheryl goes through as her life is altered by the effect Mark has on her. Tender, poignant, touching are easy way to describe this interesting story. This is the kind of indie movie you will be glad you risked the price of admission on.

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)

PAUL'S YEAR AT THE MOVIES: 2012 EDITION

PAUL'S YEAR AT THE MOVIES: 2012 EDITION

I started this blog two and a half years ago and have loved writing reviews and sharing my thoughts with all of my loyal readers. It brings me great joy whenever I get to share a passion of mine with others. Whether you have left comments on the blog or on my Facebook page, I THANK YOU! It means the world to me.

In 2011 I started tracking how many new movies I watched in a year. I wanted to track the number of movies, where, when, and how I saw the movie. I must give credit to my good friend, Max, who has been doing this list for years and where I got the idea from. According to my 2011 Edition of this list, I saw 96 movies that were new to me. I was surprised to learn that despite having a pretty busy personal life I managed to squeeze in even more than that. I saw 113 new movies, 63 were 2012 releases. I did not track every time I watched a movie, just the ones that I was seeing for the first time. Here is the grand list plus my Top 10 of 2012, Worst of 2012, and some other stats:

The Artist
War Horse
Man on a Ledge
The Devil Inside
Friday the 13th Part VII:The New Blood
The Iron Lady
We Bought a Zoo
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Hotel Chevalier
The Darjeeling Limited
Morning Glory
happythankyoumoreplease
The Vow
Being Elmo
Wanderlust
The Ten
Game Change
Friends with Kids
Water for Elephants
21 Jump Street
The Hunger Games
Mirror Mirror
Titanic 3D
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop
Murder By Death
So I Married an Axe Murderer
American Reunion
The Cabin in the Woods
The Lucky One
The Five-Year Engagement
Rebecca
Marvel's The Avengers
She-Devil
Chocolat
Spellbound
Dark Shadows
What to Expect When You Are Expecting
La Vie en Rose
Men in Black 3
Battleship
The Last Picture Show
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman
Rock of Ages
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Moonrise Kingdom
Magic Mike
The Girlfriend Experience
Haywire
AVP: Alien vs. Predator
The Amazing Spider-Man
Gentleman Prefer Blondes
How to Marry a Millionaire
Brave
No Reservations
The Dark Knight Rises
Thunderball
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Ted
Play Misty for Me
Total Recall
Hope Springs
The Bourne Legacy
You Only Live Twice
Shame
The Green
Lawless
Girls Will Be Girls
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Premium Rush
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Raiders of the Last Ark IMAX
Carnage
Babette's Feast
The Master
Frankenweenie
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Arbitrage
Looper
Diamonds Are Forever
The Man with the Golden Gun
The House of the Devil
Argo
The Innkeepers
Paranormal Activity 4
Moonraker
Prince of Darkness
For Your Eyes Only
Cabin Fever
Hellraiser
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Octopussy
The Living Daylights
Skyfall
Cloud Atlas
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Lincoln
Life of Pi
Silver Linings Playbook
Flight
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Hitchcock
The Girl
The Guilt Trip
Holiday Inn
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Jack Reacher
Meet Me in St. Louis
Pitch Perfect
This is 40
Les Miserables
Django Unchained


My Top 10 of 2012 Releases

These movies are the ten movies that left the biggest impact on me throughout the year. These are the movies that kept me thinking about them for days later. 2012 was one of the best years at the movies in recent memory. There were so many exceptional movies that pushed the boundaries of their genre, dared to tell a remarkable story, and had some amazing performances. This was a hard list to narrow down to just ten movies.


1. The Dark Knight Rises
2. Moonrise Kingdom
3. Lincoln
4. The Cabin in the Woods
5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
6. Silver Linings Playbook
7. Django Unchained
8. Marvel's The Avengers
9. Skyfall
10. Argo

Honorable Mentions: Les Miserables, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Looper, and Life of Pi

*Please note I have not the following: Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, End of Watch, Rust and Bone, The Sessions, The Impossible, Amour, and Promised Land.

The Worst Movies of 2012

I try not to see too many bad movies, so this list is quite short.
1. The Devil Inside
2. Mirror Mirror
3. Dark Shadows

2013 Resolutions
1. See more movies. OBVIOUSLY!
2. Write more
3. Spend time watching the classics. I tend to focus much of the blog on new releases that I tend to neglect all of the classics that inspired them.
4. More blog projects. I had great fun doing my "Bond. James Bond." challenge that I hope to do similar blog projects in the new year. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them!

What are your thoughts on all of the movies 2012 brought to you? Any highlights? What was your favorite or worst movie of the year? Feel free to sound off in the comments below!

Movie Review: DJANGO UNCHAINED

DJANGO UNCHAINED
Writer/Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson

I had a feeling after I saw the vintage studio logo and the opening credit sequence that I was going to love the latest cinematic achievement from Quentin Tarantino. The year is 1858, two years before the Civil War. A group of slaves is chained up walking through the woods with two of their masters, The Speck Brothers. Django (Foxx) is one of the many slaves in the chain. A mysterious cart and horse approaches them and Dr. King Schultz (Waltz) steps out claiming he is interested in purchasing Django. A violent yet hilarious gunfight ensues. Dr. Schultz shoots one of the brothers and leaves another one injured and stuck under his dead horse. Dr. Schultz unchains Django and convinces him to join him. The other slaves are freed and get their revenge on the Speck brother that is stuck under the horse. After this opening gunfight, you get an idea of the style of violence the rest of the movie has in store.

Dr. Schultz explains to Django that he freed him as he has connections to the Brittle Brothers. He further explains that he is a bounty hunter and there is a price to be had for the death of the Brittle brothers as they are brutal killers. Django decides to help Dr. Schultz in exchange for him to be freed from slavery and for Dr. Schultz's help to find his wife Broomhilda (Washington) who was separated from Django in a slave trade. An agreement has been made and they set off to track down the Brittle brothers. They quickly hunt them down and they shoot them on the plantation of Big Daddy (Don Johnson). Dr. Schultz witnesses Django's uncanny abilities with a gun.

The two of them carry on with their bounty hunting and learn that Broomhilda is being held as a slave in the arms of Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). His plantation is aptly titled, Candyland. Every slave has heard of the infamous Calvin Candie. The male slaves are trained to be fighters while the women are prostitutes. The two devise a plan to pretend to be purchasers of a fighter in order to reach Broomhilda. Eyes and heads turn as both Django and Dr. Schultz arrive on horse and appear to be of the same status. Further suspicion looms in the air for Django as Calvin's top slave and attendant Stephen (Jackson) suspects that Broomhilda and Django may be married.

If you have seen any of Quentin Tarantino's movies, you know what to expect. He always has a clear vision and style that is unlike any other director. You can watch any Tarantino movie and know that he made it even if you did not see his name in the credits. You can expect extreme amounts of profanity, copious amounts of blood, violence, and unforgettable characters. His style is not for everyone. I always appreciate his unapologetic route at making a movie. Nothing ever seems off the table for him. The "N" word is continually used throughout the movie. While many filmmakers would forbid the word to be used in a script, Tarantino uses it as it was part of the vernacular at the time. Revenge is used in many of his films like Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds, and now Django Unchained. The extremely violent and bloody scenes against the antagonists are so over-the-top that they turn artistic to make a point.

So much of the movie's success comes from the script he wrote. Tarantino is a massive film buff and historian and uses the idea of the old spaghetti westerns as the backdrop of the story. The rich dialogue gives each one of the actors so much to work with to make them unique and unforgettable characters. Christoph Waltz's first scene is hysterical. He has a way of writing such dark comedy into some of the more violent and intense moments of the movie. Veteran Tarantino actor Samuel L. Jackson gives one of his best performances in a long time. The Academy has long ignored Leonardo DiCaprio even though he continues to give top-notch performances. I expect him or Waltz to be given a nomination.

Django Unchained ranks up there as one of Tarantino's best. It has all of those typical Tarantino ingredients that make for one hell of a rollercoaster ride. The movie is violent, but never gratuitous or obnoxious. The language can be jarring to the ears but it true to the time period. It is intense and insane, but entertaining all at the same time. The movie is very long. While I was never bored, it could stand to have a few cuts and edits without doing damage to the story. Whenever I walk out of a Tarantino movie there are images and shots that get stuck in my head. Some of the music and score sit with me as well. Django Unchained is no exception and is one of the best movies of 2012.


RATING: ***** (5 out of 5 stars)

Movie Review: LES MISERABLES

LES MISERABLES
Director: Tom Hooper
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter

The big screen adaptation of the beloved musical by Alain Boublil and
Claude-Michel Schönberg has finally made it to the big screen, and it has left the die-hard fans in an uproar. Did they do justice with their beloved musical? Did they cast the right actors? Are the voices good enough? Can they get the cast recording out of their head for three hours to appreciate new voices or interpretations of the songs? I have seen the stage version a couple of times and have listened to the cast recording countless times. I will try to keep my comparisons of the two to a minimal, but it will be hard.

Prisoner 24601 Jean Valjean (Jackman) has been released on parole from his guard Javert (Crowe). He stole a loaf of bread and has since been in the arms of the lawful Javert. Valjean is taken in by the Bishop of Digne (original stage Valjean Colm Wilkinson) and given food and shelter. He has a revelation after the generosity the Bishop has given him. He breaks his parole and vows to live a just life helping others. Javert's hunt to capture Valjean once and for all has begun.

Eight years pass and Valjean has taken a new identity to become a factory owner and mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. A fight between the female workers breaks out as they discover Fantine (Hathaway) is sending money to her daughter Cosette. Cosette is living with the Thénardiers (Bonham Carter and Cohen) and their daughter Eponine. The Thénardiers are innkeepers that pick pocket and steal from anyone entering their establishment. Fantine is kicked out of the factory and turns to prostitution in a desperate attempt to make money for her daughter. Valjean promises to Fantine that he will take care of Cosette. He approaches the Thénardiers and gives them enough money to take her.

Nine years pass and life has only gotten worse for the French. Marius (Redmayne) and Enjolras (Aaron Tveit) decide to start a revolution as the war wages on. Marius spots Cosette (Seyfried) amongst the crowd one day and instantly falls in love. This does not bode well for Eponine (Barks) who has long been in love with Marius. Gunfight and turmoil separate Cosette and Marius while it brings together Javert and Valjean to finish their duel that started many years ago.

One of the best choices director Tom Hooper made was to have the actors sing live on set instead of having the music prerecorded. Many movie musicals have all of the music prerecorded first and then have the actors lip-synch during filming. From what I have read, each actor had an ear piece that played the piano part so they could stay with the music. It is a pretty daring move that I found quite effective. I feel like it allowed the actors to really delve into the acting of the songs while singing them at the same time. Some of the actors were better at this than others. Hathaway's showstopping "I Dreamed a Dream" is so heartbreaking to hear and watch. She is sobbing her way through it and makes the lyrics so gut-wrenching. You will forget about any other time you've heard it, especially if it was done for some reality show that made the woman a huge star now. I won't mention names as I cannot stand that weak rendition. Back to the topic at hand. Eddie Redmayne is another actor that made the live singing look effortless. His song "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" is another weeper. This concept does lead to the music to sound a little less refined and pretty than you may expect it to. There is a rough and raw quality to it that may be a little jarring for the die-hard musical lovers.

Crowe and Seyfried are getting the most flack for their performances, but they did not bother me as much as I would have thought. Their voices are very different than how fans have heard their characters sung before. Crowe has more of a rock/pop sound to his tone. He does not have the trained musical theater sound to it. I think he is the one actor that is working the most outside their comfort zone which does show at times. We've heard Seyfried sing in Mamma Mia so her voice come as no surprise. Shockingly enough, Jackman came as a surprise in a different way. I have heard him sing numerous times, so I was excited by his casting. There were moments when he sounded just beautiful while other times his tone really jarred with me. Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne were just phenomenal in every regard. Hathaway will most likely walk away with her first Oscar which will be well deserved. I would love to see Redmayne get some more recognition. Samantha Barks stands out as well as she returns to the role of Eponine after playing in on stage in London.

Another aspect of the movie that will stick out at you is the cinematography. Much of the movie is done in close-up shots, especially during any of the more serious solos. It works with the live singing to help bring out the raw emotion of the song if all you are focused in is the actor delivering the powerful lyrics. To contrast that, the camera uses sharp angles whenever it pans out on the deslote streets of Paris.

Like I have previously stated, it is hard to watch the movie and not compare it to the stage musical. This happens anytime you see a musical adapted for the big screen. Sometimes the material does not transfer well from stage to screen. It takes a supremely talented director, cast, and crew to make the adaptation faithful to the stage version while making it work for the camera. Musical numbers may be cut, characters may reduced from how they appear on stage. It comes with the territory. Not everything that works on stage will work on film. Hooper and his talented cast deliver a top-notch movie musical that stays faithful to the original material. The musical has an amazing score from the solos to the larger group numbers like "One Day More" and "Do You Hear the People Sing?". Some of the musical numbers will have you sobbing in your seats, and you will most likely come out with the music stuck in your head. It is the best stage to screen musical adaptation since 2002's Chicago.

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)